How much land is enough land.

[waltonbasinman]

Was thinking today about the land I have permission to detect on or to be exact the amount. This all stemmed from a detecting colleague and from something he said a few weeks back while I was stuck at home and unable to get out. I have nearly 3,000 acres to go at which is actually still about 95% under crop or undetectable due to length of grass. But in another week or so If the weather stays right will free up about 60% of this land. MY dilemma is that a detecting friend has three times as much as me and along with other detecting friends I would guess another large amount of land becomes available. SOOOOOOO When does enough  land become to much land. Most of the land is also land that I would call land with good prospects. The one farm I will offer for a DW rally in a few weeks but that still leaves so much land. Is this to much land.

[DIGGA]

my personal theory is  you cannever have enough ,,,,,,, i have over  2000 acres  at the moment  and  i have tried  a good many  places   but  some  have  brilliant potential ,,, others   theres  hardly anything  been found yet   ,,,,,,,,,, if i get a good patch  or  fields  i uauslly keep to themand  trya fewofmy other farms  now and then just to see what comes up   

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

I've got a little land , but I find I keep going back to the same couple of farms. You get to learn the fields , and I feel the more you clear , the more you find. Sometimes you need to focus , too much land can send you running in cirlces.

[The Doc]

I've got a little land , but I find I keep going back to the same couple of farms. You get to learn the fields , and I feel the more you clear , the more you find. Sometimes you need to focus , too much land can send you running in cirlces.

I agree Rob, with too much land, particularly when it all becomes available at this time of the year, there's a danger of running around like a headless chicken trying to find somewhere good and then only really scratching the surface anywhere.

Also (sour grapes coming up Paul ), it seems a shame that someone has all that land tied up which you cannot possibly cover. There could be new detectorists in your area desperate for a few acres to start on which they can't do because you have permission on all the available land.

[vitallius (Dave)]

I had thousands of ACRES also many years back it obviously gave me a choice between Pasture and arable and the different areas made a change of scenery, and also I favoured some farms more than others due to the finds, so some of the farms I would hardly visit so really it was just having them for keeps sake so no one else would get them...., now looking at the whole picture I think a few farms are ample if there are some finds coming out as to do them properly would take years also from the other point detectorists trying to take up or return to the hobby are pretty much at a disadvantage as the land is taken especially around here. The land I have at present has 25 fields spread across two village boundaries and i guess will keep me going for a long time, I hope

[romano-brit]

jesus, i cant even get 1 farm to go on, and theres pepole with thousands of acres out there, whats the point?? you  can only go on 1 farm at a time, why do pepole need to hoard so much land to themselves

dont really see the point

[waltonbasinman]

I've got a little land , but I find I keep going back to the same couple of farms. You get to learn the fields , and I feel the more you clear , the more you find. Sometimes you need to focus , too much land can send you running in cirlces.

I agree Rob, with too much land, particularly when it all becomes available at this time of the year, there's a danger of running around like a headless chicken trying to find somewhere good and then only really scratching the surface anywhere.

Also (sour grapes coming up Paul ), it seems a shame that someone has all that land tied up which you cannot possibly cover. There could be new detectorists in your area desperate for a few acres to start on which they can't do because you have permission on all the available land.

You will be surprised Doc. One farm is at Leominster 20 miles away in one direction. another farm is near Hay on Wye 10 miles away in another direction. One farm is in my local village which is two miles away. You get the picture. No adjoining farms and I picked them for different reasons. History, crop rotation, permanent pasture some down on floodplain some on upland. As for the friends land, they are based much closer to you than me and to be honest I was gobsmacked by the amount of land available to them, but it really does make a change to go somewhere different for a change.

[DIGGA]

ROMANO I GOT  LOADS OF LAND ,,,,THE  POINT IS THIS ,,,,,, WHEN MOST HAVE CROPS AND ARE UNUSABLE,,, YOU  STILL LEAVE YOUR OPTIONS OPEN FOR OTHER PLACES,,,,,,,,,  ALSO  ITS  NICE TO INVITE  MATES  TO A NEW FARM   YOU DONT KNOW ,,,,, IT  MAYBE  rubbish  OR  TOTALLY COVERED IN HAHHIES  OR ROMAN   YOU CANNEVER TALL   AND  ITS  THAT  EXCITEMANT  THAT MAKES IT WORTHWHILE ,,,,,,,, I HOMESTLY CANT SEE WHY YOU DONT HAVE ANY LAND ,,,,, THERES   LLLOOOAAADDSSSSS   WHERE YOU LIVE BUD ,,,,, KEEP BANGING DOORS   AND  YOU ARE SURE TO GET THEM  IN THE END   

[outlaw]

 I still as i am driving round notice a field that strikes a cord and will knock on more doors.

I never quite understand peeps who say they cannot find land to detect on, its either an attitude problem when approaching farmers, or give up after a refusal. ( be polite take it on the chin and find another plot )

[romano-brit]

um it sure aint laziness as u put it outlaw, try getting sum land when theres 2 big clubs in town plus the WW and Lesiure Promotions around here who offer the farmer mega bucks, if you was the farmer who wud u let on ur fields?

[U.K. Brian]

I did the rounds a few weeks back and hit "I've agreed to only allow XXX club on the land". Then they often say "I haven't seen anyone from the club this year" (or even last two years !)

A few months back for the first time I hit the ££££ problem as the word seems to have gone round about this new source of income. In the Southeast it doesn't worry me to much as the finds rate is so much higher but on some of the Welsh hillfarms I'm convinced they were paid in turnips.

A friend of mine ex Milton Keynes now go back to visit relatives and can't get on any land even his old sites as the farmers round there are getting sick of people knocking on their doors.
Gary, now resident in the States and had some of the treasure from the Spanish Fleet of 1715 came home to Norfolk  for a couple of weeks last year and spent most of his time trying to get on any land.

Things are getting tough in many areas.

[Spooyt Vane]

All you need is a productive 100 acres with crop & pasture. I had 10,000 acres many years ago totally pointless
as wont live 1000 years to do it justice.

[Stig(The)]

I have not got much land at all,hardly any infact,i`m a courier driver & deliver to loads of farms,every time i ask & get knocked back,they either just come straight out & say no as they dont want detectotists on their land,or they have had detectorists before & they will not allow anyone again,or some of the farmers has told me that they already said yes to  detectorists to detect on their land & they will not allow another one,so it is pretty unfair really when some has thousands of acres which they will not use for some time or even use at all. I do get frustrated when the weather is nice & i have no-where to detect.

[waltonbasinman]

I also suppose it does help that I live in the middle of nowhere and went to school with most of the landowners that live near me and they are my neighbours. It is not the most populated part of Wales and to be honest most of them say no one has ever asked for permission except the one farm where someone came twice and found a few bits and bobs and never appeared again.

[Mark]

I agree it's good to have a wide variety of farms for choice and availability during the seasons so for me too much land is never enough.  I have plenty of farms to go on but they haven’t been handed to me on a plate and did not come easy and I have spent more hours and money on petrol, and had more knock backs than I can remember.  I think you have to be very dedicated to stick with the overcrowded world of metal detecting but the rewards are there if you don’t get put off or disillusioned